Patheon has acquired Gallus BioPharmaceuticals adding two US biologics plants and says with an industry shift towards medium sized bioreactors it now holds the market advantage.

In the space of six months, contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) Patheon has propelled itself into the biomanufacturing space, firstly adding two biologics facilities through the $2.65bn (€1.9bn) merger
with the pharmaceutical products division of Royal DSM, and today announcing the company – now part of DPx Holdings – has acquired Gallus Biopharmaceuticals.

“The deal is a straight-forward add-on,” Manja Bouman president of the Patheon BIO business told Biopharma-Reporter.com. “There is a huge growth in the outsourcing biological market and with the addition of Gallus, we are very well positioned in the space.”

Gallus has two mammalian cell culture facilities in the US which will complement the two sites in Australia and the Netherlands acquired in the DSM deal in March. The Princeton, New Jersey site is focused on process development and early-stage production and, due to its location in a biohub, will bring Patheon close to its customers, According to Bouman.

The St. Louis, Missouri plant, however, is “a site with a very expansive track record in commercial manufacturing serving a number of Big Pharma companies.” She added the plant contains both stainless-steel and single-use equipment and is “one of the biggest players in the 2,000L space.”

There may be further acquisitions and expansions in the future, Bouman said, but for now Patheon would be looking at fully integrating Gallus and increasing the flow of new customers. Financial details of the deal have not been divulged.

Medium-sized bioreactor market

“Prior to the DSM deal, we had substantial fill/finish capabilities but the addition of the Australia and Netherlands facilities, and now Gallus, makes us a very strong biologics CDMO,” alongside Catalent and Lonza, she told us.

“While Lonza doesn’t offer fill/finish it is a major player in the very large commercial size reactor market,” Bouman continued. However, with increasingly efficient bioprocessing techniques, cell lines are becoming more productive the market demands are changing, she said.

“In the medium size market, we have the advantage as the market is now moving away from very big fermenters for commercial production.”

Bouman’s comments mirror those of fellow contract manufacturer Fujifilm which recently announced plans to add a 2,000L single-use GE Healthcare bioreactor at plants in the UK and US
. “The productivity of mammalian cell lines is on the up meaning we can make significant quantities of biologics without increasing the bioreactor size past 2,000L,” spokesman Mark Douglas told this publication last week.

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